Fire rings a hot topic

Like most people who go to Olde Port Beach every day, I welcomed the news that the fire rings will be removed Sept. 1 to reduce the fire risk. While I do my morning cleanup (I specialize in liquor bottles. Personal best is 14 whole and assorted breakers, mostly vodka and tequila, not wine.)

I have on several occasions already seen smoldering foliage early in the morning. Of course, you have to climb over broken pallets, assorted garbage and half-full cans of igniter fluid to get to it.

I appreciate that funding is scarce, but simply removing the rings will only partially help. On most Saturday through Monday mornings, I find four to six fires dug right in the sand, usually near the rocks to shield them from the wind. My guess is that with no enforcement in the evening, that number will multiply substantially throughout the fall, given the absence of the fire rings.

If this is a serious effort at fire control, additional steps must be taken, or the effect may not be much more than pouring one of those ever-present cans of igniter fluid on the problem.

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